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Grand County Sheriff Rod Johnson decided in June that contributing an officer from his agency to the Grand, Routt and Moffat Narcotics Enforcement Team was no longer worth "the bang" he got for his "buck." Grand County's departure left the organization with one less officer, less funding and an extra letter in its name.

GRAMNET officials faced renaming the organization or finding another word that started with "G."

Task force commander Dusty Schulze said officers decided to keep the "G" in the title by making it the Greater Routt and Moffat Narcotics Enforcement Team.

"We tried to save money by keeping our letterhead the same," he said.

Schulze said Johnson's decision has proven to be good and bad for the drug task force.

"It was a good thing because it lessened the jurisdiction area we were covering from 11,000 miles to 7,200 or 7,500 miles," he said. "It helped in that respect, but it hurt us because it took away another one of our officers."

Johnson said he made the decision because he thought it was difficult for the team to work cases in Grand County because of the 100 miles officers had to cover to get there.

"When we joined the force, I knew it was going to be difficult right off the bat because of that distance," he said.

"I had a feeling it might be better if we kept our money at home and our officers in our county doing their own investigations here," he said.

Johnson said he has hired another officer, who has helped tackle some of the drug investigations in Grand County.

Steamboat Springs Public Safety Director J.D. Hays said the group was not ecstatic about the decision but that it tried to understand Johnson's reasoning.

"The more people we have working for GRAMNET, the better off we are," he said. "So, no, we weren't real happy to find out Grand was going to pull out. But we can understand the logic behind it."

Hays said the task force had one officer each from the Craig and Steamboat Springs police departments and the Routt County and Moffat County sheriff's offices.

Schulze said the officers work full time for the task force investigating narcotics crimes and related crimes and serving as a resource for other agencies in the county.

"It seems like, lately, we have turned into more of a crime support unit than a narcotics team," he said. "We field more calls on a daily basis from other officers than we do from citizens."

Hays said the task force began in 1996 to provide the 14th Judicial District with a permanent drug task force and that the group has been successful the past decade.

"I hope (GRAMNET) can continue for another 10 years," he said.

Schulze said the task force is funded partially with a 50/50 matching grant from the federal government, as well as by contributions from Routt, Jackson and Moffat counties, Hayden and the 14th Judicial District Attorney's Office. The 2005-06 budget was near $300,000, about $77,000 less than the 2004-05 budget. Schulze said the task force was eligible for about 70 percent of a federal grant this year.

-- To reach Alexis DeLaCruz, call 871-4234

or e-mail adelacruz@steamboatpilot.com